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Post by Selenia on Jan 20, 2016 10:05:01 GMT -5
Gingerly creaking down onto a spare bench, Selenia allowed herself the first few moments of rest in what felt like an eternity. The war was over, the battle of the Red Plains won and the Adversary defeated. She wasn't present at the front lines when the final blow was struck, but word traveled quickly enough down the grapevine and even to the Ponyville field hospital, where she and the remains of Team Hydra had been transported to after their retreat. Retort had been discharged early with only minor injuries, but Selenia and Javelin had it a tad rougher. Selenia had overexerted for too long in the fight and nearly damaged her horn, not to mention a few solid hits from the dogs left her with cuts, bruises, and some broken bones. The arrow that skewered her thigh during the retreat had been handily removed and the wound bandaged up, but she still had to affect a small limp to keep it from reopening. Javelin was much worse for wear, stuck by more than a few arrows and subject to the injuries incurred through brawling with the burly dog soldiers, it was a small wonder that she made it. Not to mention the core hound arrow that had impaled her as they escaped, thank Luna it was treatable and had missed her spine.
Blink, though... That was rough. She had fought valiantly, practically dancing around the dogs with her chakrams and teleportation as she happily cut them to pieces, it was honestly a little intimidating. Her parents and the guard would be happy to know she took down as many as she could with her, but the lack of a body to return still left a bad taste in Selenia's mouth. The first casualty that was her responsibility, and they couldn't even pay proper respects. Selenia shook her head. 'War,' she thought to herself and frowned.
First thing after being discharged, she had asked any of the corpsponies for information on the Royal Advisor, where he was, what he had done in the fight, if he was still alive- to which she had received shrugs or shaking heads. She knew that Red had to have made it, there was no way he couldn't have, and she needed to find him again. The news of Field Marshal Hightower's death shook her confidence to the core however. She settled into the bench and looked up at the sky, puffing out a frustrated breath. She was directionless, but now that the war was over, Red would have things for her to do. Until then, she'd find something to occupy her time in Ponyville or the camp that was slowly spreading across nearby fields as a pit stop for the weary allied militaries.
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Jan 20, 2016 19:00:27 GMT -5
Trotting towards Selenia came the hero of our story, a self-styled 'expert and expertly handsome' thief by the name of Klepto Moonlit, donning a doctor's coat and pair of glasses he had recently 'acquired'. Unlike Selenia, Klepto hadn't seen any of the death and devastation that had everyone down in the dumps. While most ponies were out fighting Diamond Dogs, Klepto had been busy looting and pawning valuable trinkets from the wrecked and ruined homes of the Equestrian capital Canterlot. It wasn't pretty work, but he needed the cash.
With the fighting subsided and free travel now safely available, Klepto had made his way down to Ponyville, partially because word had come to him that Selenia and her team would be here, but mostly because he needed a change of scenery. The operation headquarters of the Equestrian Military, Canterlot had been both depressing and no-nonsense. Ponyville, he had hoped, would be equally depressing but a little more accepting of nonsense.
Seeing a Selenia-colored blur through the stolen glasses, Klepto made his way to her location, picking up a clipboard along the way. "Ah'm afraid your condishin's ah lot worse than we exspe'ted, Selenia," he said, disguising part of his face with a mouthful of clipboard. "You'f got Galloper' disease; maybe got only a month t' live." The doctor-impersonating thief let out a puff of air to flip one of the clipboard's pages. "Better spend what time you 'ave left meetin' up wif ol' frien's." He lowered the clipboard a smidge to peek at her.
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Post by Selenia on Jan 21, 2016 13:26:04 GMT -5
Given the busy nature of the square and Selnia's place on a bench big enough for more than one pony, she was unsurprised when the sound of approaching hoofsteps abruptly stopped a few feet away. She sighed lightly and turned around, ready to greet them with a smile, but the appearance of the accosting pony gave her pause. He wore a fine doctor's coat bearing the insignia of one of Canterlot's hospitals and she could see the edges of a pair of ridiculously expensive looking antique glasses peeking out behind the clipboard he held. Tan coat and a blonde mane- not uncommon by Equestrian standards, but she felt she had seen it a few times before. As the pony started to talk in a remarkably fake accent that almost made her snort, Selenia craned her neck to get a look at his cutie mark and adopted an impish smile, willing to play along with Klepto's game now that she knew it was him. No doubt he knew that she knew, but still.
"Oh doc, say it ain't so..." She placed a hoof on her forehead for theatrics after he finished, suppressing her grin but mostly failing. "I've got so much left to live for, like pizza, and homework!" She then gestured at his outfit, taking a closer look at the embroidered nameplate "and may I say it is an honor to have a career dietician from Canterlot's very own Foal's Hospital looking after a weary military operative like me. Nice glasses, by the way." She shifted to a more respectable sitting posture and patted the open spot on the bench.
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Jan 21, 2016 19:20:13 GMT -5
"Fthanks," Klepto spoke, spitting out the clipboard. "Hey, don't let anyone know this..." He leaned in close, glancing around and lowering his voice to a hush. "I'm not actually a dietician." He rose back up his full height, jerking his head to move the glasses up to rest on his mane. "It's me! Your old pal, Klepto. Had you fooled didn't I?" He gave Selenia a goofy grin, then plopped down on the bench next to her.
"So? How'd the fightin' go? Eh? Slayed about ten billion diamond dogs, right?" He said, giving her a friendly nudge. "I heard Sharp caught sight of you and fled all the way back to the Dog Territories with his tail between his legs."
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Post by Selenia on Jan 22, 2016 10:24:02 GMT -5
Selenia chuckled skeptically at Klepto as he sat down. "Suuuure you did. You'd be just about the only doctor out there with a thieves' mask for a cutie mark." She settled again and let him continue. Her smile twitched down a tad as he mentioned Sharp. News was that the battle on the plains had just about concluded with the death of Warlord Sharp, but not before he had plowed his way through the circle of survivors and killed Prince Shining Armor, not to mention all those he cut to ribbons on his charge through the shield.
They would celebrate victory in this battle and the war as a whole, but the loss of life was staggering. Military strength on both sides had been shattered, Canterlot was all but leveled, their kingdom was a wreck with few towns and cities left unscathed. And then there was the issue of Celestia. It would take years to recover from this nightmare. But, at least they were alive.
"Heh, something like that," she took a few seconds to try and put together a head count, but lost track about halfway through and gave up. "It was rough, but our little team held their own, some real impressive ponies I've been working with recently, and some I'd actually met and fought with before. The dogs practically tossed themselves at us until Blink, this perky little navy blue unicorn mare who fought like the Yellow Flashes, was killed." She glared down at her hooves, "It was already a stretch throwing just four ponies up against an entire invading army, but that's not my order to question. Either way, with Blink gone our balance started to collapse, then the Silver Core arrived and we had to retreat. Thank Luna that Bitter was able to hold them off for as long as he could," She sighed, the story of their little squad was something she should write down before her mind tried to make her forget most of the details. "I really do have to thank you and Sturmrufer for that little bit of hoof-to-hoof training in Canterlot before we got shipped out to Filly. The dogs got in close on a few occasions out in the field and I had to rely on clobbering them, saved my life more than once in fact."
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Jan 22, 2016 18:25:26 GMT -5
(Lol, it's a thief's mask, Selenia, not a grappling gun.) " Just call me Klepto 'Life-Saver' Moonlit," he spoke. " I told you that stuff would come in handy." The thief glanced down at Selenia's hooves which she seemed so particularly mad at she decided to glare at them. " Too bad about Flashy, but it's war I guess. At least it wasn't you." " So what's next for you, huh? Back to studying? Return to civilian life until the next catastrophe?" The thief looked around at the wounded at the legions of wounded ponies all milling about the once-non-destroyed town. " I guess someone's gotta start rebuilding all this stuff. You think your boss is gonna make you help out?"
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Post by Selenia on Jan 23, 2016 9:51:06 GMT -5
(How did I not see that before??? To be honest though it really does look like a grapnel gun in your avatar- the ties make the grip, the right eye is the trigger guard, and the rest of the mask forms the bulky barrel and even the round cable reel at the back Either way, retroactively edited it my last post.)
Selenia grunted in agreement. Life isn't permanent. Ponies dying is a fact, the sooner you make peace with that and keep on living for yourself, the happier you'll be. In Selenia's line of work she couldn't afford the emotional effort of being deeply affected by what might become of anypony she met either.
"If I'm being honest, It'll probably be more studying and homework," she said with a chuckle, "I am RedCharge's fairly recently appointed apprentice after all, and I've only realistically scratched the surface of what magic can really do. The last few engagements in the war kinda put a halt to any regular schedule, with him being Royal Advisor and me being an on-call battlemage with experience," she scratched her chin in thought for a few moments, "As for the cleanup, I'll probably volunteer for some heavy lifting once my magic has a bit of rest, but I don't think I'll be formally employed for it- that duty'll fall to the guard. Red might need me for particular tasks and his word supersedes all but the princess's anyways."
Selenia shrugged noncommittally. For the immediately foreseeable future, her schedule was pretty free. Might be worth taking a stroll around town of the camp to see what she could get involved with, she doubted anypony would turn down a few extra hooves. "Speaking of, I know Red was out there for the battle with the princess and the other military bigwigs, but all anypony is talking about are the deaths of Shining and Hightower, I've heard nothing regarding him yet. I know I shouldn't be worried, but..." She paused, formulating the words, "he's just as much my friend as he is my mentor, and it's not like I can just up and go hunt him down, ya know?"
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Jan 25, 2016 0:10:14 GMT -5
"He's probably fine. And if no one knows where he is, I'm sure his jerk daughter has her personal army searchin' Equestria for him." He said that last part with some notable resentment. He and Rainlock were still on bad terms. At least... as far as he was concerned. Rainlock might not even remember who he was, the idea of which honestly made him even more upset.
The thief shook his head, hoping to push Rainlock and her stupid guards away from his consciousness for a bit. "Sorry. But hey, don't worry about your prof. You got somepony who's like a billion times cooler. Me!" He gave her a grin and a bounce of his eyebrows, leaving it ambiguous whether the size of his hubris was real or for show.
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Post by Selenia on Jan 26, 2016 8:23:38 GMT -5
Selenia scrunched her nose. Klepto was right. It's not like Red couldn't handle himself or anything, she just had to trust that he'd be fine. "Lady Rainlock's probably got her hooves full at the moment. I bet she could fund Manehattan's rebuilding efforts on her own, but no doubt her personal networks took a hit or two with how widespread the fighting was." Selenia tapped her chin, she hadn't talked with Rainlock in a long while, not since she had to answer for the whole debacle in Royal Rocks after the second expedition to Equiterian ruins, to which Selenia ended up owing the Rainlock matriarch a favor- one that hadn't been cashed in yet.
Selenia puffed out her cheeks. There were a lot of cards on the table right now and a lot of different things to worry about, some more than others. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Red'll be okay, he's been through worse. Anyways, you're the one who found me here, so was there anything you had in mind that you were looking to do? Or is it just because you've picked Canterlot's bones clean already?" She needled with a smirk.
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Jan 30, 2016 17:53:27 GMT -5
"Excuse me, looters pick the bones clean. A thief steals the meat right off your plate. Now, granted, I may have been stuck doing looter's work the last few weeks, but that's only cause transportation got so botched up. My rightful place is in the shadows of the dinner table, plucking food from the plates of the grubby rich and elite."
The thief shrugged. "I had an okay thing going in Trottingham for a while. But I dunno... maybe I need advice. I guess we already knew what you're going to end up doing. But what do you think I should be doing? When and where will the daring Klepto Moonlit strike next?"
He tried to give the last bit the appropriate flair of drama it deserved.
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Post by Selenia on Feb 1, 2016 14:03:51 GMT -5
Selenia just gave Klepto an appraising, if skeptical look. It wasn't reputable, per se, but rarely would the real world conform to one's own opinions and morals. If being an exceptionally skilled acquisitions specialist was how he paid his bills and put food on the table then that's just how it was. He took pride in his work and didn't try to save face. After all, she had made her peace working with ponies of varied backgrounds long ago, so as far as she was concerned, Klepto was her friend. "Stocking up on the liquid assets I see. You should really look into real estate or construction, land value and the worth of new structures across the board'll probably go through the brand new roof once major rebuilding starts to pick up. Then again, that route leaves a paper trail." She filed away that economics lesson for a later date.
"As for what you could be doing, that would be just about anything. You and I are both practically citizens in this mess, we're not exactly expected to be doing much of anything this soon after a war." She stopped for a moment to hem and haw before amending, "Volunteer work anywhere would be greatly appreciated, you get paid in meals though. Hay, even relaxing would be fine if you don't mind idle hooves."
"I'm just burning some time after my discharge before I track down the nearest ranking officer to see what the deal is. Since I was formally admitted to the field hospital after even temporary service in the military, they should know where I am, so I've gotta see if the official post has anything for me too." She silently counted a few things off in her head before pushing off the bench with a groan, more out of exasperation than actual pain. Ironically, it was a really nice day and that was a really comfy bench. "You coming with or do you wanna enjoy the sun and breeze a little more?"
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Feb 3, 2016 1:51:34 GMT -5
"Nah. I'll come." The thief shook the glasses off his head, then abandoned the coat and his 'disguise' as he walked along with Selenia. "I was actually hoping for advice that didn't involve charity or vacation. When ponies think 'Where will the great Klepto Moonlit strike next?', I don't want 'em to think hammockin' or homebuildin'."
"C'mon, Selenia. You've read more books then anyone I know. Surely you know about some great valuable treasure I could get my hooves on. Maybe locked away in some ol' fuddy duddy's mansion or somethin'."
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Post by Selenia on Feb 7, 2016 10:04:03 GMT -5
Selenia almost said something as she watched Klepto simply discard the pilfered glasses and coat, but she thought better of it and kept her mouth shut. At least he left them on the bench for somepony who might find more use out of them. No doubt the economy was at rock bottom what with most networking and infrastructure experiencing significant collateral damage, so it's not like Klepto would be able to fence any of his loot yet. Heck, it was a miracle that the Royal Palace didn't break off its anchors and tumble down Canterlot mountain with the entire treasury in tow.
She offered him a commiserative nod to his gracious turning down of charity work, she had seen that coming but it still didn't hurt to ask, and she laughed at his assertions. "That is true, I may have a nose built for jamming into books but it has yet to prove its long-term value." She crossed her eyes to look at her snout and laughed freely. "As for that 'valuable treasure', I'm sorry to say but here around Ponyville, there just isn't any that I know of. It's just a run of the mill rural town, no notables live around here aside from the Elements of Harmony, but it's not like any of them are princesses with their own castles." As they rounded a corner on the way to the military camp, Selenia pointed to the town hall, tall enough to be seen above the surrounding structures. "The town hall there is probably your best bet, but it's a little crowded right now and it's not like I've ever cased the joint either. I know for a fact that Golden Oak Library has some rare books, but most are on inter-library loan from Canterlot and don't come running to me if miss Sparkle catches you."
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Post by Klepto Moonlit on Feb 8, 2016 18:35:18 GMT -5
"Last time I tried stealin' books, it didn't end up so well. Hopefully the library doesn't have Rainlock connections." The thief took a look at the practically uprooted library, tilted to the side with several of its roots hanging in the air. "Eh... that's gonna be a pain to dig through..."
"Maybe I just go back to Trottingham... I dunno. All of Equestria seems to be in the crapper, and I'm tired of just diggin' through ruined buildings for broken valuables." The thief let out a mix of a sigh and a yawn, continuing to trot alongside Selenia. "So when are you gonna go back to doing cool stuff? Readin's fine as a hobby, Selly, but you need a better day job."
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Post by Selenia on Feb 11, 2016 8:49:29 GMT -5
Selenia gave Klepto his peace and listened as they made their way up to an open MP tent, where a bedraggled stallion in uniform was serving as a secretary of sorts. "You ever think of taking it easy once in a while Klepto? Vacations never hurt anypony, least of all hard workers like you... Ah, mail?" She quietly inquired when the stallion looked finished with a page of whatever he was working on, receiving a glance and a nod down the pathway in response. "I don't know how hard Rainlock's been riding up your flank, if at all, but I doubt you'd get lost in the paperwork once things start to clear up. She's got a reputation for a reason. As for cool stuff? That should start right back up once Red gets his hooves on me again. Speaking of, here's to hoping I won't be waiting around too long."
The makeshift mail tent was pretty sparse, as expected. Selenia gave her name and showed her cutie mark to the clerk, who only shook her head after flipping through a surprisingly impeccable logging journal. Selenia thanked the mare and led Klepto back out. "Eh, worth a shot but I don't know what else I was expecting, it hasn't been very long since the fighting officially ended anyways. At least they had my name on the list." Truth be told, after so much activity with no end in sight, suddenly laying around doing nothing for even this long was an unsettling change of pace. "War or no, a sedentary life is not in my future. I've got a lot to do but I just can't get back to doing it. These injuries'll keep me from magic for a little while, Red's MIA, and most places I'd normally go are gone. Shame a war was all it took to give me some free time."
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